Friday, October 12, 2018

Unexpected Love @Liza0Connor

MEET THREE STRONG WOMEN

Who are willing to do anything, include taking on the Mafia, to preserve the last White Oak Forest in Iowa.

Helen has lived and protected the property for most of her long life, but she’s dying and needs to find a new caretaker. Her Mafia crazed sons wish to raze down the forest to make themselves billionaires. She locates an avid hiker in New Jersey with the love and money to take over the woods.

Megan is convinced her lottery win came with a curse. The day she receives Helen’s offer to buy her woods she also learns a serial killer has her in his sight, so she changes her identity, moves to Iowa, and buys Helen’s forest. While the Mafia Don, Benito Campinelli, would not order a hit on his own mother, Megan is fair game.

Tess, the granddaughter of Helen, has lived with her grams since her father tried to force her to marry a Chicago Mafia Don when she turned sixteen. Under Grams’ guidance, she learned how to care for the forest. To protect Tess from being forced to sell the lands to her father, Megan turned the lands into a State Park with the caveat that Tess will become the forest manager once she gets her Master’s degree. Until then, she will assist the person in charge.

Tess Campbell is a mafia princess who wants nothing to do with her dangerous family. She’d rather spend her life making Grams's forest the best state park in Iowa.

Alistair Castile, aka Steel, is a British prince, his archeological career in ruins due to his promiscuous nature. He’s hired on as forest manager of Tess’s woods and quickly falls in love with the charming young woman, so different from the socialites of his world.

Only there are several serious barriers between them: Steel’s career cannot withstand another scandal and Tess’s father will kill anyone who gets in the way of his daughter marrying a Chicago mobster.

Excerpt for Unexpected Love

Tess Campbell hugged her grandmother as the newly appointed governor signed the document to make the two-hundred-thousand acres a state park.

“We did it!”

“With the help of God and Meg, we did,” the old woman said. “For a while, I feared all I’d done was get an innocent woman killed for trying to help us. I underestimated our family’s hunger for power and money. Thankfully, the FBI didn’t.”

The phone rang. “I’ll get it.” Tess jumped from the couch and hurried to the wall phone by the kitchen. “Hello?”

“May I speak to Tess Campbell, please?”

“This is she.”

“Tess, It’s Tom Barkman.”

The head of the Park’s Commission, now her new boss. “Mr. Barkman, I just saw the land transfer went through.”

“Yes, that was a great relief. Unfortunately, it appears we are now in lockdown and not allowed to leave. Could you do me a favor and pick up Dr. Castile from the airport at six this evening? He’s coming on British Airways from Cairo.”

“Of course. Where do you need me to take him?”

“This is a bit awkward, but he’s my first choice as forest manager for your land. I had intended to take him to my house and bring him over to you in the morning. I’ve explained the situation to him.”

“That I’ll be taking his job in five years?”

“Yes. To be honest, that was a deal breaker for most of the candidates I’ve considered. However, Steel has long-term plans in a different direction, so he’s open to a short-term offer.”

“Well, I’ll do my best to convince him to take the job.”

“Just give him the same tour you did me. And, if it’s not too much of an inconvenience, could you possibly take him to a hotel nearby?”

“We’ve plenty of room here, and this is just what we need to keep our minds on our achievements instead of the problems.”

“Ah. I imagine your family is a bit upset.”

“Well, they haven’t come by, but I expect they are as angry as I am thrilled that we saved the last forest in Iowa.”

“They wouldn’t shoot Steel, would they?” he asked.

She grimaced. “No, but I’ll do my best to ensure they don’t meet him.”

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.